Friends – Dear Danny (2) – A Long Letter from Fred Chion about Interamerica, Inc. – May, 1940

This is the second page of a long letter to Dan from Fred Chion, another Surveyor working for Interamerica, Inc. in Venezuela. Fred remained in Venezuela for a while after Dan left in May of 1939, and Fred is reporting some of the things that happened in the Company and to the workers in Venezuela.

Jim Pierce  and Lad Guion at Karnopp’s Camp in Venezuela

The Maxes, and Richard’s wife, left for the states at the beginning of the month of June, I moved in shortly afterwards and that began our worries. As usual, Max had not left enough money and by the end of June we were beginning to be worried.  Max promised that he would be back by the end of the month and a fortnight after he was supposed to have arrived here, Dick had used up what was left of the passage money in order to pay for our current expenses.  In the meantime, two of the boys had found employment, one with an engineering firm from the states, and the other with Texaco Oil Co., one of the other boys had left for the states, and there was Richard, another engineer, myself, my wife and child, left to worry.  During the month of March, in the meantime, Karnopp had been employed by the Ministry (MOP) for a railroad survey job which was supposed to have lasted 2 months.  To date, he has been working 6 months on it and it is not as yet finished.  He took with him the two boys that were working with him on the Coro line.  Max still had a good bank balance at that time and besides that, he still had some Bs. 20,000 to collect from the Ministry for the last payment.  When the balance was getting low, Richard started to send cables to New York to Max, but nary an answer.  He had hired a lawyer who had Power of Attorney for Max, and while he had the right to collect the money from the Ministry and pay us off, he would not do so unless he had explicit instructions to that effect from Max.  He sent a cable to Max asking him to tell him what to do with us, that we were no longer interested in working for his company, that the only thing that we wanted was to be paid off in full and return to the states, in other words, liquidate ourselves entirely from his company.  Max, as usual, did not answer for the simple reason that he wanted us to stay here to help his front.  He was telling everyone that his engineers had so much confidence in him that they were willing to wait until he received his next contract.  As matters stood, it was pretty bad.  I could have taken it on the chin and paid my own passage, lose out on the expense money that he owed me, and return home.  Another bad feature was that the Bolivars had greatly depreciated and while the legal exchange was still 3.19, they could not be had for that price and furthermore the government made it illegal for anyone to buy or sell dollars at a higher price than the official one.  Through the help of the oil people we were lucky enough to be able to buy some at 3.50, meaning that I would have had to take a 10% loss on the money paid to me.  Max had promised that he would take care of this matter while he was in New York and he did as he usually does all these things.

Tomorrow, the final page of this letter about “the boomerang strikes back”.

Judy Guion

Friends – Dear Danny (1) – A Long Letter From Fred Chion About Interamerica, Inc. – May, 1940

This is a long letter to Dan from Fred Chion, another surveyor, who worked with Dan in Venezuela, for Interamerica, Inc. It chronicles the events after Dan returned to Trumbull.

Daniel Beck Guion

Dear Danny,

I guess I’m the one who has delayed plenty in writing to you in answer to your letter.  Well, to tell you the truth, I was forever waiting for new developments and for something important to happen so that I could inform you, but as yet nothing has happened in that particular direction, but plenty in other, so much so that I can hardly know where to begin.  So, do not expect this to be a letter but rather a conglomeration of thoughts and events that might be of some interest to you.

When I last wrote to you, Bush was the chief of the party, but through an unexpected turn of events, Max Yervant Maxudian, President of Interamerica, Inc.) called him to Caracas and I was placed in charge.  Before this, Mr. Roberts was fired (for the second time) and his passage paid to the states.  He had run a preliminary line, under the Honorable Mr. Boshnakian’s orders, which when plotted, turned out to be a 23% grade, besides which, not being a Sunday school boy, he was drunk for a very long time, ran up bills for everything, owed money to Tom, Dick and Harry and the net result was that he was paid his passage home after six months work with Interamerica, Inc.,  and produced very little work and at that, it was no good.

In December, Max hired another man, a friend of mine from the states, and in January he hired another one.  When this happened all the boys felt pretty good believing that there would be plenty of work for all of us.  Anyhoe, the Barqui-Siqui line was finished in the field on February 18, 1940.  The Coro line was finally finished about the same time (they averaged 5 kms. per month to our 13 kms. per month).  I was offered a good job with the ministry of agriculture on the construction of a dam near Barquisimeto.  I asked Max to release me, pay me, and let me go to the new job, that I would return to him when he obtained the contract for construction or contracts for additional surveys.  Max then gave me a long story on the possibility that I had with his company and that I would make a big mistake in leaving his employ and that since he was going to keep on paying me my salary, there was no reason why he should release me from my contract.  I, being worried about the backpay that he still owed me, plus the expenditure that I had undertaken for him, which as yet he had not paid, complied with his wishes.  Needless to say, all that he said was merely what he was hoping for and had no reason why he should have had such high hopes.  However in May, all the boys, with the exception of Bush and Karnopp, were all paid in full and also all debts due to the boys.  He owed me close to $3000.00, and I was thankful that I finally collected.

During the month of February, Bush had to leave for the states because his wife was very sick and Max promised him that he would send the balance of the salary due to him while he was in the states (which he never did).  At the end of May, he made an agreement with all the boys, Dick excepted, that we were to remain in Venezuela, that he would pay us our expenses, that in the event that the company would obtain any contracts we would receive the salary of the waiting time, that he would leave money with Richard to pay for our fares to the states in the event that we should decide to return or in the event that the company would not receive any more contracts.  The Maxes (Mr. and Mrs. Maxudian, I presume) were at that time living at the Country Club, the swankiest place in Caracas, in a very luxurious home (front for Maxes suckers) called “El Cigarral”.  I was to move my family from Barqui to their home, enjoy a vacation with all expenses, the company to pay for all the bills.  Anyhoe, it was a nice set up if nothing else.

Tomorrow, another page of this very long letter and on Friday, the final page.

Judy Guion

Army Life – Dan Writes to Grandpa About the American Red Cross – March 27, 1942

 The following article appeared in The Bridgeport Post, Bridgeport, Conn., on Monday, March 27, 1944.

Daniel Beck Guion

Red Cross on Call for All Servicemen in London, Corp. Guion Tells Family

The American Red Cross in London is “a composite Travelers’ aid, shopping guide, nursemaid, companion, entertainer,  tour conductor, encyclopedia, Dorothy Dix and hostess, all at the beck and call of any G. I. in uniform”, according to Corp. Daniel B.  Guion, of Trumbull, now stationed in London.

“Because it occupies such a prominent place in my mind today, I am dedicating this letter to the ARC (American Red Cross)”, Corp. Guion recently wrote to his father, Alfred D. Guion, of Trumbull.

The clubs in London have been a Godsend to every American serviceman who has come to London,  wanting to get the most out of his visit, the Trumbull soldier continues. “Maps, accommodations, education, information, entertainment, all are the daily diet of the ARC.”

Rooms and meals, he says, are available at minimum cost. “But nicest of all, a new ARC club has just opened quite near the place rather different from the downtown London clubs, more like a USO in that there are no overnight facilities to attract the Grand Central Terminal crowd, that prevails in the regular clubs, coming and going at all hours of the day and night, unkempt from travel, gas masks and musette bags drooping from weary shoulders as they lineup for lodgings.”

This club, designed for men stationed in the area rather than for transient servicemen, appeals strongly to Corp. Guion’s sense of the historic and dramatic.

On Site of Old Palace

“This local ARC is housed in a building built by Christopher Wren for Queen Anne, in the early 18th century,” he explains.  “It is built on the site of an old palace,  which, causes it to fairly reek of atmosphere and tradition, despite the modern comforts that have been added for its present function.”

Great figures of Britain’s past, who have stopped there, or played their parts in the immediate vicinity, include 21 Kings, four queens, Chaucer, Woolsey, Sir Walter Raleigh, Francis Bacon, Spencer (“he read the Faery Queen to Queen Bess”) and Dean Swift.

Open Fireplace

“There is an open fireplace in virtually every room. Library, music room, dining room, information desk, all contribute notably to our comfort indoors, while spacious lawns, secluded bowers, gardens and aged walls lend an aura of romantic antiquity to the grounds around it. Glimpses of barges and boats can be caught through the trees that line the further edge of the lawn past which a river flows.

“By fortunate coincidence I am able to take advantage of this club during the daylight hours all this week, because I have begun working on a shift job which changes hours periodically.”

Corp. Guion is not new to world travel. As a U.S. government engineer, he traveled through a good bit of South America, spending some time working in Venezuela, and before entering service, was given an assignment in Alaska. He had his early education in Trumbull schools, attending Central High School, and was graduated from the University of Connecticut. He has been overseas with the U.S. Army for several months.

Mr. Guion, Sr.,  is an enthusiastic volunteer worker for the Trumbull branch, Bridgeport chapter, American Red Cross, which he serves as director of public information.

“We all know the Red Cross is doing a grand job, here and abroad.” he says. “But it gives an added boost to your morale to hear directly from your own boy how extremely well the organization is serving our men overseas.”

Tomorrow,, a letter from Elizabeth (Biss) to Ced, one of her older brothers, then a letter from Grandpa to finish out the week. 

Judy Guion

Army Life – Letter From Dan to Ced – My Poor Salacious Siwach – August 7, 1942

Dan is in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, being trained by the Army in survey work and his younger brother, Ced,  remains in Anchorage, Alaska, working at the air base there, repairing and maintaining planes and flying as a Bush Pilot. Before Dan was drafted into the Army, he was also in Anchorage,  living with Ced and working.

Cedric “Frump” Guion

Anchorage, Alaska

The Examination Stamp

letter written on yellow lined paper in pencil

                              Daniel (Dan) Beck Guion

8/7/42

Roanoke Rapids

My Poor Salacious Siwach —

I again take up my pen(cil, sadly) with mounting misgivings, fearful lest the next letter from you, inspired by this one, will divulge some new heinous outrage perpetrated by you (and that handful of masculine harlotry living with you) against the gentle folk of pastoral Alaska.

But when duty calls, it always finds me right “on the ball” (eight) (or should I say “testicles”, to rhyme with “calls”?), Except when it comes to changing my luck – – – – I have decided to stop changing my luck, not because I do not need any better luck, but rather because I have learned, to my consternation, that these blue ball dispensing black belles are better un-bumped, taken from either side.

Kitty and Cortina:

If you or Kay can find any use in Anchorage for those records, or any potential customer (anything over $10), you may return them (or sell them). If they are serving no purpose, you might send them back home before the Japs mistake them for rye crisps and suffer indigestion !

Volly P. –

My best regards, and stick around! I’ll be back after the war if there is any after.

Rusty’s pipe –

The curfew tolls the knell of parting bedbugs. It is cheaper than conventional fumigation, anyhow!

Buick –

You are free to use your own judgment. Cars are actually worth less around here at present, but values will leap when gasoline and rubber become available and  new cars are not yet on the production lines. I suppose Alaska faces a similar situation.

Dad’s allusion about my being sent to Alaska – mostly the old A. D. imagination. I told him that rumors were extant concerning possible moves in the fall to foreign lands – – – – and Alaska was one meager possibility among several others, equally as meager.

My being pleased with the Army –

It’s malicious slander, that’s what it is! I like the place I live in. I like the survey work. I like the men who are on it with me, but my greatest pleasure would be to stand with my legs spread out and my cock in both hands, and piss on everything military, from the whistle at reveille until the whistle at “recall”, wetting down particularly the sections relating to discipline and silly military customs.

___________________________

I have become a part (1/4) of a quartet, during the last week or so, and already have performed for the royal awestruck congregation at the 1st Baptist church, and for the local version of the R.F.A.D. (the vice of the Golden South). Tonight we four shall offer unction to the oafs at some corny revival meeting. It is for this meeting that I must close this letter, for time is bisecting itself with alarming rapidity, and I must away!

Give my regards to everyone, even Rutting Red, the Renegade –

Really,

Dan

Tomorrow and Sunday, more about “Liquid Heaven”, with Special Pictures and Memories of our Family Island Retreat. 

Judy Guion

Trumbull – Mr. Cedric D. Guion, D. L. W., Anchorage, Alaska (1) – Dan’s Visit Home – April 13, 1942

Cedric Duryee Guion

Trumbull, Conn.,   Apr. 13, 1942

Mr. Cedric D. Guion, D. L. W.,

Anchorage, Alaska.

Dear Sir:

If you are possessed of normal curiosity you will be wondering what unknown degree has been awarded you in your long absence from civilization (if you can term what we are now living in by the term of “civilization”). Is it some scholarly recognition of your penetration of the far north to repair planes atop of glaciers? No. Is it perchance for proficiency in snoring, which, according to the reports of one C. Huerlin, has reached a high degree of proficiency in your case? Again no. And it can have nothing to do with an Eastern Railroad which has not yet extended its rails to Alaska. Then, by heck, what is it? It is a long overdue and well merited degree in delayed correspondence signifying in all its pristine simplicity, “Delay, Linger and Wait”. That you have fairly won this award none will dispute, and if Chapters III and IV of the Saga of Plane Glacier, are as long arriving as Chapter II, it may be that by Christmas of 1943 we may be nearing the final chapter. All of which is by way of mention, as you may have suspected, that we have not heard from you of late.

Yesterday as I returned empty-handed from a trip to the P. O. Box 7 to see if there might possibly be an airmail letter from Alaska, I ran into Tiny Sperling who informed me that Nelly (Nelson Sperling) was married to a girl from Boston, having taken the step upon being made Sergeant, was at an army camp in Florida, in charge of mechanical work on automotive equipment and would shortly start for Australia.

Daniel Beck Guion

During the week I received a letter from Dan asking for funds so that he might have available cash to purchase a railroad ticket home, and instructing that it be sent to his new camp in North Carolina where he expected to be before the end of the week. Of course I complied with his request. Last night a little after 10:30 the phone rang and a voice informed me that “Your son Daniel is at the Bridgeport R.R. station”. Hastily donning a few clothes and gently leading the Buick out of its stall, I vaulted lightly into the saddle and Paul Revered it up to Plumbs, placed Barbara (Barbara Plumb, Dan’s girlfriend)  on the handlebars and raced for Bridgeport. From Dan I learned he had not yet left for North Carolina, had of course not received my check, but through a combination of borrowing from one of his buddies, talking the ticket agent into advancing him cash out of his own pocket, and selling some postage stamps back to the U. S. Government, he finally reached Bridgeport with enough left over to make two telephone calls. He is leaving in about an hour to go back to Fort Belvoir (Virginia) and expects that surely this week he will make tracks for North Carolina where the rumor is he will be on a surveying crew. His application for officers training is still pending, but as this is said to involve mostly combat training, he may, after finding what the life in the map making branch is like, prefer the latter. It all depends on what develops. He looks fine, is apparently enjoying himself and doesn’t appear to be suffering from ill health.

Tomorrow, the conclusion of this letter with updates on various family members. The rest of the week will I post another letter from Grandpa to Dan and Ced, the two sons away from home.

Judy Guion

Trumbull – Sons – Dan Home for a Visit and Other Local News – March 15, 1942

Daniel Beck Guion

 Trumbull, Conn.,  March 15th, 1942

Sons:

Referring to the date above, if I had a red ribbon on this here machine the date line above would have been typed in red, signifying a “red letter day”, not because it is the income tax deadline, but because it marks the first visit home of Acting Corp. Daniel B. Guion, U.S. Engineers of Ft. Belvoir, Va. Outside of a mere rumor, the first real news of the Daniel invasion reached me while I was engaged in the age-old Saturday night custom of a bath. Aunt Betty’s gentle knock on my bathroom door informed me that Dan was at the Bridgeport station, and would I go down for him. Would I? I mentally gave him at that instant my unadorned greeting and hastily removing a few drops of moisture, I donned my nearest apparel and all a-twitter headed the Buick south. There he was, neat and trim in his new uniform, fully as tanned as when he came back from Venezuela. We corralled Barbara (Plumb, his girlfriend) on the way home and set down for a quiz fest. As the evening wore on, one by one, Lad and Dick and Dave drifted in adding their own questions to the crossfire of inquiries as to details of Army life until somewhere around 1:30 or 2:00, most of us sought our couches and left Barbara to get in a few questions of her own. I invited Barbara to dinner (on Sunday), after which we talked for a while, then Dan changed into his uniform and started back to see Biss (his sister, Elizabeth, who is married to “Zeke” Zabel and her two boys, Butch (Ray Zabel, Jr.) and Marty) on his way to the train en route back to Camp.

I hope I can check up another red letter day next week in celebration of a letter from snow-bound Ced who has been giving his index finger a three months rest. No news is good news they say but I would rather have something more positive on this score.

Enclosed for each of you is a newspaper clipping giving a list of the Trumbull folks who now have a place on Uncle Sam’s payroll, in which I thought you might be interested. I do not have these clippings) There is a rumor that Irwin Laufer (a neighbor who lived across the street and was a motorcycle buddy of Lad’s) is now en route to Australia. I am also enclosing a clipping regarding the job the Army engineers are tackling in building a road to Alaska.

There is not much to report locally. The Tire Rationing Board turned down my request for new tires. Dave was in another radio broadcast over W.I.C.C. Friday and Saturday, (I) showed films of Alaska and Venezuela at the North End branch of the Bridgeport Public Library — about a 45 minute showing. The weather is showing signs of coming spring although we are aware that there have been years when blizzards have visited the locality even later in the month than this.

Richard Peabody Guion (Dick)

Dick plans to take his new car down tomorrow to have it thoroughly gone over mechanically and put in first class running shape. Dan told Dick to sell his old car.

War talk- “Latrino-gram – a rumor. Mechanized dandruff – cooties.

DAD

Tomorrow and Friday, two more letters from Grandpa.

Judy Guion

Trumbull – Dear Chillun (3) – Grandpa’s Message to Dan and Paulette – December 16, 1945

Daniel Beck Guion

Paulette (Van Laere) Guion

It is always so pleasant to hear from you, little daughter. Your reference to the “little king” reminds me that soon we celebrate all over the Christian world the birthday of another king with his message of “peace on earth and goodwill to men”. I wish that spirit could be more universal than it is now but you and Dan are setting the right example from an international standpoint and I hope that in your personal relations one to another you will always be patient with one another’s shortcomings and generous in spirit so that our new little king will spend his happy childhood in a spirit of goodwill and peace. That is my Christmas wish to you for now and all the years to come. I hope you will feel like “chatting” again, and will always feel free to let me know what we can do for you over here to make you happy and compensate as far as we can from this distance for the lack of things you need and cannot obtain. The only trouble is that it takes so

Page 3   12/16/45

long for things to reach you. I suppose you think of us over here as being able to go in any store and choose what we want without trouble. While of course we are measurably better off over here than you are, we still are unable to obtain many of the things we want. This is due to several things. First, the switch of manufacturers from making war goods to civilian goods has been considerably slowed by strikes. Then, what goods are for sale are generally of poor quality and high priced. Added to this the fact that a lot of people have saved much money due to high wages paid for war work and are willing to pay fancy prices for comparatively (poor) quality, plus the fact that right at this season the stores can sell almost anything as Christmas gifts and you have a combination of circumstances that makes us who have even the rudiments of thriftiness disgusted and inclined to strike ourselves against buying anything until people get back their sense of proportion as to proper values. Take men’s shirts, as an example of one item Dan wants me to get. There is not a decent shirt for sale in any of the Bridgeport stores. The shirt counters are absolutely bare except for some gaudy, ridiculously expensive sport shirts, so hideous that even the anything-at-any-price customer hesitates. And when a few white shirts do happen to reach the merchant, a line of struggling females gathers about the counter and in a short time “the cupboard is bare” again. Perhaps in a month or two things will be nearer to normal but right now I certainly would not waste anyone’s money on shirts. This also applies to many other items. Stocks scarce, quality poor and prices high is pretty generally true of the retail stores. Merchandise from Sears Roebuck, when you can get it, is a far better buy, in my opinion.

Oh, by the way, Dan, while I think of it, and in case you want to change the beneficiary on your policies from me to Paulette, I have in my safe deposit box Cert. #N 1 232 683 dated Feb. 1st, 1942, for $2000 and #N 3 680 055 dated Sept. 1st, 1942, for $8000, both payable at present to A.D.G. as beneficiary.

David Peabody Guion

And here’s a message from Manila dated Nov. 30. “Up to three days ago we were extremely busy. Then in the matter of 24 hours our radio circuit to Korea was taken off the air and our message center closed. It all happened so fast that we don’t quite believe it yet. The chances are we will either stay here and work downstairs in GHQ signal center instead of as a sub-division of it, or we will go to Korea. There is a more remote possibility that we will go to Japan. Your guess is as good as mine. Meanwhile we are awaiting answer to request for replacements for men going home for discharge (situation has now cleared considerably and as a result my morale has improved immensely). If granted, it will make our old team with one exception, the same as was in the advanced party at Okie. There is a possibility that four members of this detachment, including yours truly, may be recommended for boost in rank to T/4.”

Someone asked me the other day how many points you have Dave, and I couldn’t tell him. Will you kindly remove my embarrassment next time you write? Did you get a battle star for the Easter Sunday landing?

Of course others can do it but how nice it would be to have a Dan out getting Christmas greens to decorate the house, and a Dave to fix up the tree or to improvise appropriate Christmas table decorations, and a Ced to spread his kindly goodwill spirit generally, and in saying this I am not unmindful of the blessing of the A.P.’s (Alfred Peabody’s, Lad and Marian) and R.P.’s (Richard Peabody’s, Dick and Jean) that will be on hand.

DAD

Tomorrow, two Christmas cards to Ced.

Judy Guion

Trumbull – Dear Lad (2) – Radios, Radios and more Radios – January 14, 1940

This is the second half of the letter from Grandpa to Lad in Venezuela that I started yesterday.

Cedric Duryee Guion

Ced, in the meantime got disgusted and learned through Carl that a friend in the radio business had a very good buy, in the shape of a radio that his company had acquired for nonpayment of a repair bill, and was ready to get rid of it for the cost of repairs, said to be $24. He went down with Dan one day recently to look at it but found it was not at all as good a bargain as purported. Having started on the quest, however, Ced thought of the fellow that had fixed up his other radio some time ago and went over to see this chap. Ced called me up and told me there was a very good G.E. radio that not only was a much more expensive model than our old one (it looked like at least a $200 model ) but it had short wave, radio and foreign reception band’s, had a much better looking cabinet and a very good tone — and eight tube superheterodyne model, whatever that means, but without a record playing device, but with an arrangement so that a record playing attachment could be plugged in without additional expense. Dan was also particularly interested, in that with it, he could get Spanish speaking broadcasts, and as it only cost $12, I told Ced to go ahead, which he did and it is now installed doing business. Your old radio is now installed in the kitchen and our old G.E. is up in my room. If we keep this up every room in the house eventually will be radio equipped, along with other first-class hotels. So now you understand why I am not bidding on your old model.

The weather has been very unpleasant this week, cold, wet, snowy, sun less. Today it is raining, has been all day, with a cold wind — a home and fireside day, if there ever was one.

           Daniel Beck Guion

Dan has probably written you that he is going to quit courses at Storrs. He is thinking of taking a course at Columbia. Incidentally, he received yesterday a form from the Engineering Society Employment Service which states that they have an opening which he is qualified to take and asks him to write a letter to be forwarded to the prospective employer. “Topographical draftsman, not over 35, single. Experience in topographical work essential. Salary $175 a month plus traveling and maintenance expenses. Two-year contract, location, Venezuela.” He has written to find out more about it and will then decide what he wants to do about it.

You haven’t yet told me what you have done about settling your back claim with Interamerica. (Interamerica, Inc., the company that hired Lad and Dan to work in Venezuela and then did not pay their workers. Dan came home after six-months but Lad was able to get a job with the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company and likes the work.)

A move is underway in Trumbull to equip Center School and Edison School auditoriums into basketball courts for the young folks. Dick is quite interested in basketball and has bought a pair of light green shorts that would do justice to a jockey. They are also using the floors as roller skating rinks (see enclosed clipping). (I do not have that clipping)

Mack

One of Ives’s (the neighbor across the street) dogs was run over and killed by a hit-and-run driver the other day. Mack has escaped so far but I am afraid that as old age comes on he will not be as alert or quick and that someday we will find he has met the same fate rather than expire of natural causes. Do they have any dogs as pets in the camp?

I wrote Grandma (Grandma Peabody, the mother of Grandpa’s wife, Arla Mary (Peabody) who passed away in 1933.) a week or so ago telling her that if she would let me know what she wanted for Christmas, it was your wish that she be remembered. I am enclosing her reply. I shall take care of sending her a check for $5. so she can get what she wants with it. I am also enclosing a letter from Aunt Betty so you can keep up with the news from the relatives.

I guess that covers all the news this week, old Laddie boy. I’ll be interested in hearing more of the political situation when you feel like writing about it. There is usually someone in every outfit that makes one’s life miserable. Is there someone like that there? It was because I observed how politics made life miserable in a big corporation often times, that I decided to have a business of my own.

Love,

DAD

Tomorrow and Thursday, another letter from Grandpa to Lad in Venezuela. On Friday an interesting letter from the Caterpillar Company regarding pictures and a Meeker Harrow.

Judy Guion

Trumbull – Dear Ced – (2) – I Go to Fill Out Some Scrawny African Buzzard – January 11, 1942

This is page 2 of a letter I first posted yesterday from Grandpa to Ced, the only son away from home now, but that is about to change.

Page 2     1/11/1942

Time out for a message from Dan who has just come in and wants to say something to you about taking 1/2ictures. Here’s Dan.

Daniel Beck Guion

Cedirk, dear,

I don’t rightly know why fayther wrote 1/2ictures unless he feels that our results are only 1/2lf satisfactory, which is what I aim to tell you. The moom pitchers we took show an unfortunate tendency toward over-exposure on one edge and not on the other! Lad says changing over at twenty-five feet, taking out the film…… re-loading, changing over at 25 feet, taking out the film … says it probably becomes loose on the real, allowing the light to penetrate. Solution: change film only in very subdued light and do not allow the film to loosen on the real.

Uncle Sam feels that he needs me to save the world for Roosevelt, especially since the dirty stinking yellow bastards have the idiotic nerve to grab the U.S. property called the Philippines after we went to so much trouble to save them from the nasty old Spaniards a few decades ago. Imagine their wanting to get some islands that don’t even belong to them! And they even talk of invading the U.S., just because we refused to sell them a few little staples like iron and machinery and raw materials and because we stopped buying a little silk from them!

Of course we could easily win the war if we just sent 10 more bombers to the Dutch….You can’t expect little countries like U.S. and England to beat Japan without some help. That is why the Dutch have to sink two extra Jap ships for every one they sink for themselves….one for us, one for England. If things get worse, maybe Joe Stalin can withdraw his troops from Berlin long enough to help the Dutch win our war.

Gawd! When I think of those filthy Japs having the nerve to Bomb our Navy! They are nothing but savages. And they even sink our freighters. But we will get even. We are going to start building guns and things and in about 10 years we are going to say to the Dutch and Ciang Kai Shek, “O.K., boys, we’ll take a round out of those little yellow Aryans!” And then they’ll be sorry. Of course, there won’t be anything left in U. S. by that time except taxes, but we will get those cowardly Mongolians! We’ll just take their little trousers down and paddle their pink rising suns.

New topic: When I left Anchorage I made several promises to keep the boys posted about how I made out with the Army. I have failed to do so, but there is still time. Meanwhile, if you see Fred Crowl or Don Tyree, or Hal Reherd, or any of the Air Base boys, tell them I tried valiantly, but the Anchorage draft board tried harder, so into the Army I go, perhaps to fertilize some exotic orchid in the jungles of Sumatra, or fill out the lean feathers of some scrawny African buzzard….saving America, of course, from the Japs, the Huns, and the Wops, every one of whom have only one aim in life….to make every U.S. citizen into a slave.

Dan

Tomorrow, the final portion of this letter from Grandpa to Ced.

Judy Guion

Trumbull – Dear Dan and Dave (3) – Packages to France – November 11, 1945

Page 3   11/11/45

We are returning you know to the D A D broadcasting station.

It is now some minutes since Ced has written page 2 of my letter for me, the delay in resumption on my part being due to the fact that I heard them discussing the island cottage in the kitchen, where they had all gone to get something to eat, and I just couldn’t resist the temptation of being in on it. It seems that both Dick and Lad contingents are planning more of a permanent home while Ced’s idea is definitely for just a comfortable but “rough” summer camp idea. Perhaps it is too strong for me to say, what Shakespeare and Roosevelt would say, “a plague on both your houses”, but the camping out desire, at least as a starter, finds more favor in his eyes than a house with “all the comforts of home”. Understandably, he is not radical on the subject and is willing to go along with the rest, if that is what the majority wants, but to him the charm of the place would be it’s very differentness from the average civilized cottage. Personally I am glad to have this divergent opinion because it is only from considering all phases of the thing and getting every varying angle that is the surest way of arriving at the most satisfactory final result. I am looking forward with a great deal of interest to Dan and Paulette’s ideas and, when he gets time for it, further details from Dave.

Dear Dan:

Received this week a very nice letter from M. Rabet in answer to one I recently wrote to him. I have this week sent a box of only a portion, it is true, of the things you wrote you wanted us to get, the rest of the order being still on order from Sears, and up to now not reported on, in spite of the fact I have asked them to follow up the order to see what the present status is. I have also, as an experiment, sent to Mr. Rabet direct by parcels post two other items, but these entail so much red tape and form-filling and customs declarations, etc., that I doubt if it is worthwhile employing this direct method, especially if it entails payment of any sizable amount of customs duty on the part of the recipient. It may take a bit longer to reach them through the APO channels addressed to Dan but in the end it may be better. Please instruct me on this phase, Dan. They ask that in case it is not possible to deliver to the addressee, that some alternative address be given and I have therefore given the Senechal’s address in Calais as an alternative. As Thanksgiving draws nearer, my desire to have you and Paulette here grows correspondingly stronger, but I console myself with the thought that when that day rolls around again, all three of you will be here.

I don’t recall whether I mentioned it in one of my previous letters, but for Paulette I have sent to all the publishers in this country of baby magazines, asking for sample copies, and am sending them in the next box to you so she can look them over and see what USA has to offer along this line. As a Christmas gift I am also sending her a box of yarn for knitted baby clothes, enough for three sets of sweaters, mittens, booties, together with two packages of wool soap and two pairs of knitting needles. I will have these mailed to Dan’s APO address and hope they arrive without too much delay. I’m waiting to hear about Paulette’s visit to you and how she liked the things we sent. I suppose they were a bit wrinkled and mussed from traveling, but when ironed out, they ought to be fairly presentable. Hope that they fit and that down in her heart she will be really pleased with them. I know she would say she was pleased so as not to hurt our feelings but I naturally hope she will be really, truly, delighted, because nothing we can do for her here is too good for her, and we wish she were here to tell her so.

Tomorrow, the conclusion of this letter and on Friday, Marian sends a newsy letter about their set-up in Aberdeen.

On Saturday and Sunday, more Special Pictures.

Judy Guion